Since
its inauguration in 2014, the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles has presented
works by the great masters of painting—foremost among them being Vincent van
Gogh, whose work underpins the direction of our program. However, while Vincent
will be present once again, this upcoming exhibition is driven by the work of another
great painter in modern art, Pablo Picasso.
Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh:
an extraordinary dialogue delving into the major influence of the Dutch
painter on Picasso, who considered him the “greatest of all”; just this would
have sufficed. But Hot Sun, Late Sun is a thematic exhibition, weaving an
intricate conversation highlighting the intersections between practices— between
Pablo Picasso and Sigmar Polke for one, but also between Alexander Calder,
Adolphe Monticelli, Giorgio de Chirico and Vincent van Gogh. Hot Sun, Late Sun will
feature a number of rare loans, which we are proud to present to the public until 28 October 2018.
From Aug. 31 to Oct. 21, 2018, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in Provincetown, Mass., will present Adolph Gottlieb in Provincetown, curated by Sanford Hirsch, Executive Director of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation.
One of the original Abstract Expressionist artists, Adolph Gottlieb
was part of many artists’ groups and associations, some formal and some
not. He worked year-round, yet had a longstanding habit of spending
summers away from his home in New York City. Early in his career he
would travel to Cape Ann to be near his friends Milton and Sally Avery
and Mark Rothko and the larger colony of artists in East Gloucester and
Rockport.
Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974)
Imaginary Landscape
Date Created:
1955
Style:
Painting
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
8" x 10"
Gift from the Richmond Bequest
From 1946 to 1956 Gottlieb spent his summers in Provincetown where he
could divide his days between his two great passions – art and sailing.
Gottlieb’s practice was to spend mornings in the studio and afternoons
on the water. Evenings were spent with friends and colleagues, including
Robert Motherwell, Hans Hoffman, Karl Knaths, Weldon Kees and many
more.
During his time in Provincetown Gottlieb worked almost exclusively on
paper and a few small oils. His studio was too small for large
paintings, and the focus on smaller work was part of his summer
routine. The works he created in Provincetown extend from his
Pictographs of the 1940s through to the beginnings of what would become
his Burst paintings in 1956. Some of the major transitions in his art
took place in the studio on Commercial Street, including his plans for
the stained glass façade of the Steinberg Center in New York City and an
incredibly creative period in 1956 that was part of a major transition
year for him.
Gottlieb was fully part of the Provincetown art community during the
decade he worked there. He was one of the organizers of Forum 49 and
related events, and exhibited many of his works at the fledgling
Provincetown Art Association. At the same time, Gottlieb was also a
well-known and respected racer of small sailboats in the waters off the
Cape.
Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) is recognized as one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century, and her insightful and compassionate work has exerted a profound influence on the development of modern documentary photography. With hardship and human suffering as a consistent theme throughout her career, Lange created arresting portraits with the aim of sparking reform.
This is the first exhibition to examine her work through the lens of social and political activism, presenting iconic photographs from the Great Depression, the grim conditions of incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II, and inequity in our judicial system in the 1950s. The exhibition encompasses 300 objects, including 130 vintage and modern photographs, proof sheets, letters, a video, and other personal memorabilia.
The Lyman Allyn Art Museum will open a new permanent exhibit this October, dedicated to life and works of American artist and designer, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 – 1933), who was best known for his innovative work with stained glass. The installation will feature three newly conserved stained glass windows which were commissioned in the early 1900s to memorialize loved ones in New London.
The collection, which will showcase never before exhibited objects (many of which came from the artist’s descendants), will illustrate Tiffany’s early career as a painter, then show his work as an interior designer, and tell the story of his innovations and success as a glassmaker. With items both from the museum’s collection and on loan, the exhibit will include nearly 100 pieces of decorative arts and fine arts objects including a range of windows, lamps, paintings, period photographs, furniture, metalworks, glass samples and finished Favrile glass vessels, as well as jewelry and adornments. The works will be displayed in the museum’s Chappell Gallery, a 1,070 square foot space devoted to the artist.
“Louis Comfort Tiffany is known as one of the most creative and versatile artists of his era. This new exhibit, which provides a comprehensive and insightful look at his many works, allows us to tell a rich story about his life and career,” stated Museum Director, Sam Quigley. “We are thrilled to join the ranks of noteworthy institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Corning Museum of Glass and the Morse Museum in Florida, that offer a focused collection from this very important artist,” he added.
Much of Tiffany’s success was driven by technical innovations in blown and stained glass. As such, the exhibit will present the creativity, history, and artistry that Tiffany and his craftspeople used to create vivid new effects in glass. They made multi-colored iridescent surfaces and deep colors, textures, and other effects to make the glass itself mimic the versatility of a painted canvas. This type of iridescent glass with distinctive coloring in which the color is ingrained in the glass itself became known as Favrile glass. Tiffany patented the process in 1894 and first produced the glass for manufacture in Queens, New York in 1896.
The museum will also provide several short and informative videos which explore Tiffany family history, the patronage of Tiffany windows and the conservation and preservation of the windows installed in the gallery. The videos will be created by Todd Gipstein, an award winning writer, photographer, and producer whose work has been featured in National Geographic.
Following the gala opening of the exhibit on October 20, the museum will launch a lecture series in November, 2018. The series will be kicked off with a presentation focused around Agnes Northrop, a noted independent female designer for Tiffany Studios. The first lecture will be delivered on November 17 by renowned Tiffany expert and author Alice Cooney Frelinghuyse., the Andrew W. and Lulu C. Wang Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
“A wide range of cultural influences informed the art and design of the Gilded Age, bringing objects, designs, and ideas from around the world to America and to this region,” noted Tanya Pohrt, Special Project Curator. “Tiffany’s fascination with the art and culture of the middle east and the far east illustrates the global and cosmopolitan nature of American art and design in this era,” she added.
Some notable pieces to be displayed in the upcoming exhibit include
Dragonfly Lamp, ca. 1906, Tiffany Studios, designed by Clara Driscoll. LAAM Museum purchase, 2017.15
the Dragonfly Lamp, ca 1906. Tiffany Studios, designed by Clara Driscoll,
Louis Comfort Tiffany, New York, Come Unto Me, 1924, Favrile glass; 72” x 76” , photo courtesy of Robert Baldwin.
as well as two stained glass windows from the Frank Loomis Palmer (1851-1917) Mausoleum, Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London.
River of Life window, probably J & R Lamb Studios, ca. 1904-1910,
Saint Cecilia, Tiffany Studios, ca. 1917. Loan, Cedar Grove Cemetery, New London.
and Saint Cecilia window, Tiffany Studios, ca. 1913.
Vase, early 20th century, Louis Comfort Tiffany. LAAM, Gift of Alfreda Mitchell Bingham Gregor, 1958.2
Today, the Tiffany family name is most commonly associated with Tiffany & Co., a prestigious American luxury jewelry and specialty retailer, founded in New York in 1837 by Louis Comfort’s father, Charles L. Tiffany. By the 1870s and 1880s, Tiffany & Co. was the world's premier source for luxury goods, serving royalty and the wealthy industrialists who led America's Gilded Age. Tiffany’s son, Louis Comfort Tiffany established his own firms specializing in arts and decorative glass. His firm designed interiors and furnishing for many notable clients including President Chester Arthur’s White House and Mark Twain’s mansion. Later following the death of Charles Lewis Tiffany in 1902, the younger Tiffany stepped in, becoming primary shareholder and design director at Tiffany & Co., a title he held until 1919.
About Lyman Allyn Art Museum
The Lyman Allyn Art Museum welcomes visitors from New London, southeastern Connecticut and all over the world. Established in 1926 by a gift from Harriet Allyn in memory of her seafaring father, the Museum opened the doors of its beautiful neo-classical building surrounded by 12 acres of green space in 1932. Today it presents a number of changing exhibitions each year and houses a fascinating collection of over 17,000 objects from ancient times to the present; artworks from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, with particularly strong collections of American paintings, decorative arts and Victorian toys and doll houses. Tiffany in New London is part of the museum’s revitalization initiative, which includes the recently completed reinstallation which highlights the Museum’s permanent collection, the replacement of the building’s HVAC system, and future improvements to its 12 acres of green space.
The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, exit 83 off I-95. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, Sundays 1:00 – 5:00 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. For more information call 860.443.2545, ext. 2129 or visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or the web at: www.lymanallyn.org.
For the first time in
twenty-four years and only the second timein their history, two masterpieces of
early Netherlandish painting commissioned by the Carthusian monk Jan Vos will be
reunited in a special exhibition at The Frick Collection. These works—the
Jan van Eyck and Workshop
The Virgin and Child with St. Barbara, St. Elizabeth, and Jan Vos
, ca. 1441–43
Oil on panel
18 5/8 × 24 1/8 inches
The Frick Collection, New York
Photo: Michael Bodycomb
Frick’s
Virgin and Child with St. Barbara, St. Elizabeth, and Jan Vos, commissioned
from Jan van Eyck and completed by his workshop, and
]
Petrus Christus
The Virgin and Child with St. Barbara and Jan Vos (known as the Exeter Virgin),
ca. 1450
Oil on panel
7 5/8 × 5 ½ inches
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
The Virgin and Child with St.
Barbara and Jan Vos (known as the Exeter Virgin, after its first recorded
owner), painted by Petrus Christus and now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin—will be
shown with a selection of objects that place them in the rich monastic contextfor
which they were created.
The exhibition pays tribute to Vos as a patron and
offers insightinto the role such images played in shaping monastic life in
fifteenth-century.
Bruges.The Charterhouse of Bruges: Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus,
and Jan Vos will be on view in the museum’s Cabinet Gallery and is organized by
Emma Capron, the Frick’s 2016–18 Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow.
CARTHUSIAN PATRONAGE IN RENAISSANCEBRUGES
The Carthusians belonged to one
of the most austere monastic orders of the late Middle Ages, removed entirely from
the secular worl dand committed to a life of solitude and silence spent mostly
within the confines of their cells. These ascetic ideals belied a complex
attitude toward ornament and images. While specific images were cited as
distracting luxuries in the order’s regulations, others were valued as
important tools for meditation, and the Carthusians’monasteries, known as
charterhouses, became rich repositories of painted panels, illuminated
manuscripts, funerary monuments, altarpieces, and other fine works of art.
In
April 1441, the Carthusian monk Jan Vos was elected prior of the Charterhouse
of Genadedal, an important monastery near Bruges that was patronized by the
dukes of Burgundy and the city’s foremost patrician families. Soon after his
arrival in Bruges, Vos commissioned TheVirgin and Child with St. Barbara, St.
Elizabeth,and Jan Vos from Jan van Eyck, who laid out the painting’s composition.
Following the artist’s death in June 1441, the panel was completed by an
unknown member of his workshop. Several years later, Vos commissioned the
closely related Virgin and Child with St. Barbara and Jan Vos from Petrus
Christus.
It was not uncommon for preeminent Netherlandish masters to paint important
works for Carthusian monasteries, most famously Rogier van der Weyden, who,
around 1455–64, gifted his monumental Crucifixion (now in the collection of El
Escorial, Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo, Madrid) to the charterhouse of Scheut
near Brussels, and another panel (possibly depicting the Virgin, now lost) to
the charterhouse of Herne, where his son was a monk. Genadedal boasted impressive
works of artas well. In addition to the Van Eyck Virgin and the Petrus Christus
panel, a small choir book from Genadedal is included in the exhibition.
Unknown artist, Low Countries
Gradual (song book formerly at Genadedal), 14th century Manuscript
6 5/16 × 4 3/
4 inches
Bibliothèque municipale, Douai
One of
the only surviving illustrated manuscripts from the charterhouse, its
decoration is worn from generations of monks touching and kissing the holy
figures depicted within it. Another outstanding work in the exhibition is
associated with Genadedal:
Petrus Christus
Portrait of a Carthusian Lay Brother,
1446
Oil on wood
11 1/2 × 8 1/
2 inches
The Jules Bache Collection, 1949, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Petrus Christus’s Portrait of a Carthusian Lay
Brother. Painted in 1446, it probably depicts one of the charterhouse’s membersand
is thought to be the earliest surviving portrait of a cleric not depicted in
the act of praying. Additional links of patronage tied the charterhouse to Van
Eyck and Petrus Christus: for instance, the wealthy merchant Pieter II Adornes,who
joined Genadedal in 1454 following the death of his wife, had previously been portrayed by Petrus Christus and had probably commissioned two panels of
The Stigmatization
of St. Francis from Van Eyck (identified today as works in the
Galleria Sabauda in
Turin
and the Philadelphia Museum of Art).
ABOUT
THE PAINTINGS: DEVOTION
& COMMEMORATION
Though different in scale,
the Frick and Exeter Virgins bear remarkably similar imagery, composition, and
fine execution. Both scenes depict Vos being introduced to the Virgin and Child
by Saint Barbara, and are set within elaborate porticos opening on a panoramic
cityscape; the panels achieve remarkable monumentality while conveying myriad
minute details. Kneeling on holy ground removed from the city below, Vos exemplifies
the Carthusian ideal of isolation from the world.
The prior’s choice of patron
saints has been connected to his earlier career as a Teutonic Knight, a
military religious order that looked after the relics of Elizabeth of Hungary,
a noblewoman who renounced worldly goods to devote herself to the poor and who
is depicted as a nun in the Frick panel.
Saint Barbara is shown in both the
Frick and Exeter panels with her attribute, the tower where her father
imprisoned her to prevent (unsuccessfully) her conversion to Christianity.
Barbara was the patron saint of artillerymen and, as such, was especially
revered by the Teutonic Knights. The story of her confinement in the tower must
have also resonated with the reclusive Carthusians: during the late Middle
Ages, charterhouses often were compared to prisons.
The Virgin features as
central object of veneration in both the Frick and Exeter panels, as she does
in a diptych and clay tablet (both lost) that Vos is known to have owned. This
reflects not only the ubiquity of the Virgin’s cult during the late Middle Ages,
but also her importance as patron of the Carthusian order.
Because of its
diminutive size (7 5/8 x 5 1/2 in.), it is probable that the Exeter Virgin
served a devotional purpose. As the fourteenth-century Carthusian writer
Guillaume d’Ivrée recounted, such images were frequently found in monks’ cells,
where they were meant to “excite devotion and imagination, and augment
devotional ideas.”
This is consistent with meditative practices of the period,
which relied on physical images to help conjure mental ones. Images provided
the crucial first step for this spiritual progress: they helped focus the
monks’ minds and allowed them to visualize themselves in the presence of holy beings.
Looking at his own likeness in the company of the Virgin, Christ, and Saint
Barbara would have helped Vos visualize this divine encounter in his mind’s eye.
This reliance on mental images and visualization is not so different from
exercises promoted by mindfulness meditation today. Images were all the more
important for an order whose members spent the majority of their time in their
cells, in solitary prayer: images, especially ones as rich in detail as the
Frick and Exeter Virgins, would have offered endless possibilities for
examination, helping to relieve the mental strain of complete isolation.
The
function of the Frick Virgin is more difficult to ascertain. Previous studies
have identified it as either a devotional work or an altarpiece. A recent
examination of the archives of the Utrecht charterhouse—where Vos took the panel
after leaving Bruges in 1450—provides compelling evidence that it had served as
his memorial, a type of funerary monument popular in northern Europe during the
late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Broadly defined, memorials (also
called votive tablets or epitaphs) were large painted or sculpted tablets, which
depicted a deceased donor being introduced by saints to
holy figures—in most cases the Virgin and Child—whose intercession they sought.
Generally, memorials would be placed above the tomb of the deceased, thus
functioning as grave markers. Their frames usually bore an inscription that
identified the deceased and petitioned passers-by to pray for the repose of the
deceased’s soul. Indeed, during the fifteenth century, prayers from the living
were believed to hasten the release of the deceased’s soul from purgatory into
heaven, and memorials were created specifically in order to secure suffrages
for the dead.
This was not the first time that Van Eyck was commissioned to
paint a memorial: his monumental
Virgin and Child with the Canon Joris van der
Paele (ca. 1434–36) originally hung in Bruges’ Church of Saint-Donatian, above
Van der Paele’s grave. (It is now in the Groeningemuseum in Bruges.)
(copy after Jan van Eyck's Madonna and Child with a Donor. 172cm x 99cm. before 1757–60.)
Another memorial by
the artist, The Virgin and Child with Nicolas van Maelbeke,was completed probably
around the time Vos arrived in Bruges.
Copy after Jan van Eyck's Madonna and Child with a Donor. Silverpoint on paper, 13.4 x 10.2 cm. Unknown artist, 15th century, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.
Although lost, the panel is known through
two silver point drawings from about 1445 (now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
in Nuremberg and the Albertina, Vienna). The latter, attributed to Petrus
Christus, is featured in the exhibition. This composition inspired the Exeter
Virgin and shows the impact of Van Eyck’s legacy on the younger painter.
When
Vos began his tenure as prior of Genadedal, he was probably in his fifties, at an
age when one usually started planning for death. By then Van Eyck had completed
his memorials for Van der Paele and Van Maelbeke, which may have been known by
Vos, perhaps prompting him to commission the artist to produce a similar(thoughmore
modest) in size memorial for himself.
In 1443, about two years after the
completion of the Frick Virgin, Vos petitioned his acquaintance, Bishop Martin
de Blija, to attach to the memorial an indulgence—that is, a grant that
promised passers-by a remission of time served in purgatory in exchange for
their prayers.
Specifically, the indulgence guaranteed forty days of pardon to
whoever would greet the Virgin in the Frick panel with the Ave Maria, the first
line of which, significantly, appears embroidered on the canopy behind the
Virgin, suggesting that Vos planned from the onset of the commission to seek an
indulgence for the panel. The painting’s imagery thus invited viewers to recite
the indulgenced prayer. The indulgence could also be gained by saluting the
panel’s images of Saint Barbara or Saint Elizabeth by reciting both the Ave Maria
and the Pater Noster.
Forty-day indulgences were by no means uncommon duringthe
late Middle Ages, and they were frequently granted to encourage prayers in
front of newly made images. As a spiritual privilege granted to the
Carthusians, the indulgence was only valid as long as the image remained within
the order. Thus, on the walls of The Frick Collection, the Virgin has lost its supposed
power of spiritual remission.
What prompted Vos to seek an indulgence for his
memorial? Effectively, the indulgence made the painting’s beholder a mutually
beneficial offer: in addition to benefitting Vos’s soul, the recitation of
special prayers in front of 5 the panel would also improve the viewer’s
prospects for salvation through the remission offered by the indulgence. Vos
thus used the indulgence to call attention to his memorial and incentivize
suffrages for his soul among his fellow monks. In procuring the indulgence, Vos
transformed the panel into a currency in the economy of salvation that pervaded
the era.The Frick and Exeter Virgins survived the destruction of the Bruges and
Utrecht charterhouses during the religious wars, in 1578 and 1580 respectively.
While Vos’s body lies anonymously somewhere beneath the residential buildings
that now stand on the site of the Utrecht charterhouse where he died in 1462,
his memorial hangs on the walls of The Frick Collection. Venerated today for
its artistic qualities rather than as an object that helped one secure salvation,Vos’s
memorial has fulfilled its function, though perhaps not in the way that he had
anticipated: it has kept alive the memory of this Carthusian monk, whose
patronage of Van Eyck and Petrus Christus gave us two masterworks of early
Netherlandish painting.
Workshop of Jan van Eyck
The Virgin and Child by a Fountain,
ca. 1440
Oil on panel
8 3/8 × 6 3/4 inches
Private collection
PUBLICATION
The exhibition is accompanied
by a beautifully illustrated catalogue written by curator Emma Capron with
essays by Maryan Ainsworth, Curator of European Paintings at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, and Till-Holger Borchert, Director of the Bruges Museums. It is
published in association with D Giles Limited. Drawing on recent technical
examination information and new archival research on the works commissioned by
Jan Vos, the volume explores the panels’ creation, patronage, and function in
their rich Carthusian context. The book is hardcover, 160 pages, with 85 color illustrations.
Jan Baptist Weenix & Jan Weenix: the paintings, by
Anke A. Van Wagenberg-Ter Hoeven, is the result of art historical
research on the work of the 17th-century Dutch artist Jan Baptist Weenix
(1621-1659) and his son Jan Weenix (1641-1719). Works by both these
artists can be seen in all major museums with holdings of Dutch and
Flemish paintings.
Jan Baptist Weenix - The Ford in the River
This book fills a gap in art history and throws new light on the
appreciation of Dutch art. Since 2004, hundreds of paintings have been
documented as either Weenix I or Weenix II. For centuries, attributions
had been confused because of the two artists’ similar subject choices
and (at least for a time) similar style. Following the death of his
father (and teacher), Jan gradually changed his style to conform to the
more courtly taste of the late 17th and early 18th century.
Jan Baptist Weenix - Italian Landscape with Horsemen by a Spring
This first ever published monograph on Jan Baptist Weenix and his son Jan Weenix includes over 500 paintings.
Jan Weenix (Dutch, Amsterdam ca. 1641?–1719 Amsterdam) Gamepiece with a Dead Heron ("Falconer's Bag") 1695
]
Anke A. Van Wagenberg-Ter Hoeven is Chief Curator at Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD, U.S.A.
800 pages Two volumes in slipcase 21 x 27 cm 500 illustrations (mostly in colour) English ISBN 9789462621596
On August 17, 2018, the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) in Maine opened Americans Abroad, 1860-1915,
an exhibition of watercolors, prints, and paintings by American artists
who travelled to Europe for training and inspiration in the late 19th
century. The exhibition of 24 works by artists such as Mary Cassatt,
Winslow Homer, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, draws from the PMA
collection and special loans, and includes rarely seen watercolors by
John Singer Sargent, Maurice Prendergast, and more.
Winslow Homer, Looking out to Sea, Cullercoats, 1882.
Bequest of Charles Shipman Payson. Portland Museum of Art
In the decades around 1900, American artists went to Europe in
droves, seeking training, inspiration, and patronage in the continent’s
grand cities and rural enclaves. From Winslow Homer and James Abbott
McNeill Whistler to Florence Robinson and Frederick MacMonnies, these
artists reveled in famed art havens such as Paris, London, and Venice.
They also explored the varied landscapes and villages from the Southern
Alps to England’s Northern Coast. Traversing the continent, they honed
their formal techniques across media and benefited from the new
opportunities for travel and communication that modernity offered.
John Singer Sargent, (United States (b. Italy), 1856 - 1925) The Deck,
Venice, circa 1907 Watercolor on paper, 13 1/4 inches Private
collection, 11.1995.3
These American artists experienced Europe in distinct ways. Many
settled in Paris or London, where Whistler and Mary Cassatt worked among
the international avant garde while MacMonnies established himself at
the more traditional Salon. Homer made extended trips to France and
England, and John Singer Sargent passed the majority of his life
travelling broadly across the continent. Like many artists based in
Europe, including Edwin Lord Weeks and Henry Ossawa Tanner, Sargent
extended his travel to sites in North Africa and the Middle East, many
of which were under European colonial control in these years.
Mary Cassatt, Anne and Her Nurse
Regardless of the diverse itineraries and experiences, American
artists working abroad continually examined the importance of place,
focusing on architecture, customs, and the unique qualities of light and
landscape. Whether exhibited in Europe or at home, their
paintings, sculptures, prints, and watercolors made a lasting impact on
the transatlantic story of American art.
The Museum Barberini and the Denver Art Museum are currently
collaborating on a large-scale Monet retrospective, exploring the role
of the places that inspired the artist as well as his approach to
rendering their specific topography, atmosphere, and light.
Denver's presentation of Claude Monet: The Truth of Naturewill uncover Claude Monet's
(1840– 1926) continuous dialogue with nature and its places through a
thematic and chronological arrangement, from the first examples of
artworks still indebted to the landscape tradition to the revolutionary
compositions and series of his late years.
From February 29 to June 1, 2020, the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany, will present the co-organized exhibition with the title Monet: Places.
Featuring key loans, the exhibition, at Denver and Potsdam, explores
Monet's approach towards the depiction of sites and topographies that
influenced his stylistic development, including Paris and London, the
Seine villages of Argenteuil, Vétheuil and Giverny, the coasts of
Normandy and Brittany as well as Southern travel destinations such as
Bordighera, Venice and Antibes. Amongst the show’s many highlights are
numerous depictions of Monet’s garden and pond in Giverny, including
several variations of his world-famous waterlilies.
[Also on view this year, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (opening Feb. 16) and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth will show Monet: The Late Years, the first exhibition in more than 20 years dedicated to the final phase of Monet’s career.]
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the rise of
Impressionism dramatically changed the evolution of European landscape
painting. One of the movement’s most influential practitioners was
Claude Monet, whose exceptionally prolific career spanned more than six
decades. Although he was a highly versatile artist, Monet’s key interest
lay on depictions of the natural world, characterized by a relentlessly
experimental exploration of color, movement, and light. Inspired by the
artistic exchange with his colleagues Eugène Boudin and Johan Barthold
Jongkind, Monet’s early Impressionist compositions radicalized the
practice of plein-air painting, as he largely rejected the studio in
favor of working in open nature and directly in front of the motif.
More than any of his fellow Impressionists, he was deeply attracted
to exploring the character of specific sites and locations in situ, from
the sundrenched Riviera or the wind-swept, rugged coastline of the
Belle-Île in Brittany to the picturesque banks of the river Seine. At
the very heart of Monet’s artistic practice lay a keen interest in
capturing the impression of a fleeting moment, as he tried to translate
the most evanescent effects of the atmosphere into the material
structure of paint.
“For me, a landscape does not exist in its own
right, since its appearance changes at every moment”, Monet explained in
1891. “But its surroundings bring it to life – the air and light, which
vary continually (…). For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere
which gives objects their real value.”
From his very first documented composition through to the late
depictions of his farmhouse and water-garden in Giverny, the show Monet: Places offers
a rich overview of his entire career, demonstrating his unique place
within the French avantgarde of his time. The show engages with some of
the major questions that were already touched upon by the museum’s
opening exhibition Impressionism: The Art of Landscape, which attracted over 320,000 visitors in its three-month run in 2017.
Daniel Zamani, curator at the Museum Barberini, explains: “Monet’s
career has been the subject of intense scholarly scrutiny, but our focus
on the places that inspired him offers new insights into his artistic
interests and methods. Our aim is to demonstrate just how significant
specific topographies were at key junctures in Monet’s career and to
look more deeply into how and why these places influenced his
development as a painter.”
Claude Monet, Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, 1899.
Oil paint on canvas; 35 5/8 x 35 5/16 in. Princeton University Art
Museum: From the Collection of William Church Osborn, Class of 1883,
trustee of Princeton University (1914-1951), president of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (1941-1947); given by his family, 1972-15. Image courtesy Princeton University Art Museum.
“Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge” (1899),
“The Parc Monceau” (1878),
“Path in the Wheat Fields at
Pourville (Chemin dans les blés à Pourville)” (1882) and
Claude Monet, The Canoe on the Epte, about 1890. Oil
paint on canvas; 52.55 x 57.5 in (133.5 x 146 cm). Purchase, 1953.
Inv. MASP.00092. Collection Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis
Chateaubriand. Photo by Eduardo Ortega.
“The Canoe on
the Epte” (1890).
Monet traveled more extensively than any other impressionist artist
in search of new motifs. His journeys to varied places including the
rugged Normandy coast, the sunny Mediterranean, London, the Netherlands
and Norway inspired artworks that will be featured in the presentation.
The exhibition will uncover Monet's continuous dialogue with nature
and its places through a thematic and chronological arrangement, from
the first examples of artworks still indebted to the landscape tradition
to the revolutionary compositions and series of his late years.
"We're thrilled to organize and present this monumental exhibition,
which will provide a new perspective on such a beloved artist," said
Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the DAM.
"Visitors will gain a better understanding of Monet's creative process
and how he distanced himself from conventions associated with the
traditional landscape genre of painting."
Drawn from major institutions and collections from across the globe, Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature will include works as early as
Claude Monet, View from Rouelles, 1858-61. Oil paint on canvas; 18-1/2 x 25-5/8 in. Marunuma Art Park.
View from Rouelles (Marunuma Art Park, Japan), the first painting Monet exhibited in 1858 when he was 18 years old,
and as late as The House Seen through the Roses (Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), a 1926 work completed in Giverny only a few months before Monet’s death.
Claude Monet, Boulevard des Capucines, 1873-1874.
Oil paint on canvas; 31-5/8 x 23-3/4 in. (80.3 x 60.3 cm). The
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase: the
Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation Acquisition Fund, F72-35.
Photo courtesy Nelson-Atkins Media Services / Jamison Miller.
Other highlights include the Boulevard des Capucines (1873-74) from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,
Claude Monet, Under the Poplars (Sous les Peupliers), 1887. Oil paint on canvas; 28-3/4 x 36-1/4 in. Private collection. Under the Poplars (1887) from a private collection and
The exhibition also
will include six Monet paintings from the DAM collection;
Claude Monet
French, 1840-1926 Waterloo Bridge
1903
Oil paint on canvas
Funds from Helen Dill bequest, 1935.15
Claude Monet
French, 1840-1926 Le Bassin des Nympheas
1904
Oil paint on canvas
Funds from Helen Dill bequest, 1935.14
four of them
were part of the Frederic C. Hamilton Collection bequest in 2014:
Artworks by acknowledged mentors such as Eugène Boudin and Johan
Barthold Jongkind, from whom Monet learned to capture the impression of
fleeting moments en plein air, will also be featured.The presentation of Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature will
explore Monet’s continuous interest in capturing the quickly changing
atmospheres, the reflective qualities of water and the effects of light,
aspects that increasingly led him to work on multiple canvases at once.
Additionally, the exhibition will examine the critical shift in Monet’s
painting when he began to focus on series of the same subject,
including artworks from his series of Haystacks, Poplars, Waterloo
Bridge and Water Lilies.
"Throughout his career, Monet was indefatigable in his exploration of
the different moods of nature, seeking to capture the spirit of a
certain place and translating its truth onto the canvas," said Angelica
Daneo, curator of European painting and sculpture at the DAM. "Monet's
constant quest for new motifs shows the artist's appreciation for
nature's ever-changing and mutable character, not only from place to
place, but from moment to moment, a concept that increasingly became the
focus of his art."
Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature will also delve into the
artist's increasing abandonment of any human presence in the landscapes
he created, a testimony to his commitment to isolate himself in nature.
This creative process simultaneously established an intimacy with his
subject, which culminated later in Giverny, where he created his own
motif through meticulous planning, planting and nurturing of his flowers
and plants, which he then translated onto the canvas
This landmark exhibition, which will fill three galleries totaling
about 20,000 square feet, is organized and curated by the DAM’s Angelica
Daneo, Christoph Heinrich and Alexander Penn and Museum Barberini’s
Director Ortrud Westheider. Major lenders include the Musée d'Orsay,
Paris; Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The
Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
A catalog accompanying the exhibition, and published by Prestel
Publishing, will include essays by renowned scholars, including Marianne
Mathieu, James Rubin, George T.M. Shackelford and Richard Thomson,
among others. The publication will be available in The Shop at the
Denver Art Museum and through the online shop. A related academic symposium will be held in Potsdam, Germany, in January 2019.
Group tickets and event reservations will go on sale December 17, 2018. Single ticket sales will be announced at a later date.
Claude Monet, The Artist's House at Argenteuil,
1873. Oil paint on canvas; 23-11/16 x 28-7/8 in. (60.2 x 73.3 cm). The
Art Institute of Chicago: Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection,
1933.1153. Photo credit: The Art Institute of Chicago/Art Resource, NY..
]
